Apparatus and methods for automatically dispensing imaging media (such as paper and the like) are known in the art. Such automatic imaging media dispensing apparatus and methods are commonly employed in conjunction with various types of media processing devices. Such media processing devices include imaging devices such as printers, scanners, photocopiers, facsimile machines, and the like.
Conventional media dispensing apparatus typically include at least a media support device and a media picking device. The support device is generally configured to support a stack of media sheets while individual sheets are picked, or dispensed, from the stack. One example of a support device is known as a “paper tray.” The picking device is generally configured to successively dispense single media sheets from the media stack. The picking device and the support device of a given media dispensing apparatus are generally configured to operate in conjunction with one another and can also be integral with one another.
Printers, as well as other forms of apparatus which employ media dispensing apparatus, generally also include a media path. The media path is generally defined by a series of drive rollers, guides, and the like, that are configured to operate so as to move individual sheets of media along the media path. The media path is configured to convey one or more successive media sheets from the picking device and through any of a number of various types of processing apparatus.
In a typical electrophotographic printer, such processing apparatus can include, for example, an image-forming apparatus as well as a fusing apparatus. A typical image-forming apparatus is generally configured to form an image from an imaging substance, such as toner or the like, and to deposit the toner onto a media sheet. A typical fusing apparatus is generally configured to affix, or bond, respective images to the media sheets by way of applying heat energy thereto. Another type of processing apparatus typically employed in conjunction with a media path and a media dispensing apparatus is a scanning apparatus, such as in the case of a photocopier.
At least in some instances, such as in the case of printers, it is desirable to provide the printer controller, or processor, with data indicative of the status of the media supply. That is, it is often desirable for the printer “brain” to know how many media sheets remain in the media stack at any given time. Such data can be useful, for example, in accurately predicting whether a certain print job can be completed before the media stack is totally depleted. Generally, a relatively high degree of accuracy is desired in estimating the status of the media supply.
Known methods of estimating the status of the media supply include the use of relatively sophisticated measuring devices that are configured to measure the number of media sheets remaining in the stack at a given point in time in a relatively accurate manner. However, several detriments can be associated with the employment of such known methods, which include reliability issues as well as initial expense, complexity, and maintenance costs.
Therefore, it can be desirable to provide a means of estimating the supply status of a stack of media to be dispensed in a media processing device, wherein such means achieve the benefits to be derived from similar prior art apparatus and methods, but which avoid the shortcomings and detriments individually associated therewith.